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Gang is an American 4-D computer animated serialized television series created by Steve Marmel for Kart Tunes. It was produced by Diamond Champion in association with Rising Stars and distributed by Warner Bros. Set in the early-mid 2010s era of New York City, the series follows the adventures of McCrillis Nsiah, an adolescent boxer and mixed martial artist fighter who works a full-time job in a secret youth exploration program as an undercover agent to fight against law enforcement and gang tyrannies despite being a high school student at the same time. Originally created as a 48-minute long film titled "Don't Cross the Line", which was produced in 2062-63 and aired on Kart Tunes in 2064, Gang received a series green-light by the network when the film won an Academy Award a year later. Production of the series began in 2065 and finished in 2073. Marmel cited several teenage-heroine action-orientated television series in the 2000s and 2010s era, including a 1973 television film, as his sources of inspiration for Gang; in addition, the series also made numerous references to various 1990s-2000s Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon programming. The series premiered on November 27, 2070 and finished on January 4, 2075, lasting 52 half-hour episodes across four seasons. Gang received immense domestic and international popularity, particularly because of its characters, animation, voice acting, and soundtrack, despite some criticism towards its story for being convoluted. It won a total of 20 awards - six Annie Awards, six Primetime Awards, four Teen Choice Awards, three Golden Reel Awards, and one Kids' Choice Awards. It is Kart Tunes' highest rated series in the network's history to date, with almost 50 million viewers a month in 2073 and 2074. Gang has spawned various merchandise which includes collectible action figures, dolls, clothing, album, and home video releases. Plot Main article: Plot of Gang See also: List of Gang characters Setting Premise Gang follows McCrillis Nsiah, a black African-American teenage boy who lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn of New York City. He is a skilled boxer and mixed martial artist fighter, and a high school student. McCrillis works a full-time job in a secret youth exploration program as an undercover agent under his coach District Attorney Supervisor Brain McGee to fight against law enforcement and gang tyrannies in a desperate attempt to get people to understand what the law really is and how it works. He keeps this as a secret from his family, friends, and school. As a result, he has been arrested numerous times and charged with minor crimes such as Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest, and Obstruction of Government Administration. McCrillis frequently battles them out in court on his own through a lawsuit and at times becomes victorious in the end. He rarely attends school because of these circumstances. At school, McCrillis is very unpopular and an outcast because his classmates harass him, particularly Dante McKenzie. At home, McCrillis hardly socializes with his family and keeps to himself. He is the protagonist of the series. His only friends are MaKayla Jefferson, Cheyenne Williams, Jaden Durand, Davon Delucruz, Haze Geetooah, Vaughn Hays, and Jonathan Castillo. Production Origin Steve Marmel had been with Kart Tunes for 10 years since 2052, producing various shorter films, all of them being 8 minutes long, that could have served as pilot episodes for future episodic or serialized ongoing series. These shorts were aired as one of the episodes on the network's monthly three hour-long block U-Vote Alive, which allowed viewers to vote online on Kart Tunes' official website for their favorite shorts and which short they want to see more of. Despite being nominated for various awards, none of them were approved by the network to be turned into a series because of the lower amount of viewer approval ratings, thus, the shorts ended up as failures. In 2062, after a party that Kart Tunes threw for Marmel in celebration of his 10-year career, the network finally gave him an offer to make a television series of his own, because Kart Tunes was looking for a show that could appeal to an all-age audience compared to almost all of its shows that were airing at the time, which were only limited to appealing to a certain age group despite critical acclaim, and thus, resulting in generally lower than expected overall viewership for Kart Tunes. Marmel refused politely, seeing as his previous works were never a hit to begin with. Marmel soon partnered with O Entertainment and Omation Animation Studio to produce a 48-minute long made-for-television film titled "Don't Cross the Line" from 2062 to 2063 and aired on Kart Tunes in 2064 on U-Vote Alive; it was written by Marmel and directed by his long-time adulthood friend and associate Shawn Thomas, a black public journalist who has had multiple legal issues with law enforcement. The story in the film introduced McCrillis and MaKayla who, unlike in the approved series, were biologically related as brother and sister; the former of whom was involved in a gang-related assault in a case of mistaken identity that ended near fatally when the perpetrators ran him over with their car. It resulted in the loss of his entire body and his soul surgically merged with MaKayla's; they were forced to share one body for the rest of their lives; their merged souls also allowed them to switch minds for control of their shared body at any time, with MaKayla having priority since it's her body. McCrillis manipulated MaKayla into purchasing a gun as well as training in boxing and mixed martial arts to become physically strong enough to go after the perpetrators in retaliation. The film had the highest number of votes in Kart Tunes' history and a year later in 2065, it won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature; it was then green lighted by Kart Tunes to become an episodic series rather than serialized because an episodic series is much easier to come up with new ideas for every episode, unlike a serialized series, where ideas become harder to develop as it goes on. Kart Tunes had also told Marmel to use the same title as in the film for the series. O Entertainment and Omation Animation Studio had insisted into continue working Marmel to produce the series, but he insisted on taking the production to his newly founded studio, Diamond Champion, as he personally didn't like computer-generated imagery animation and wanted the graphics in his approved series to be identical to that of real life instead. An experienced animator, Marmel hired many new artists who had little to no prior experience in computer animation to further help him into developing the series. Marmel also partnered with 30 year old-Rising Stars studios to provide the editing, soundtrack and approval for the series' episodes. Rising Stars headquarters was also the closest location to that of Kart Tunes headquarters as well. Marmel soon requested for Kart Tunes to let him change the title and premise, and for the series to be serialized instead of the usual episodic nature found in many television shows; Marmel wanted the series to be character-driven, thematic, dramatic, relatable, and appealing to further maintain a high viewership rate, as he felt the title and premise were too one dimensional and plot-driven. After further thought and discussions, Kart Tunes reluctantly agreed. The title was changed from "Don't Cross the Line" to "McCrillis Nsiah". In 2069, a year before the series' premiere, the title was changed for the second and final time: "Gang". Conception and development finished yetThe lead characters, McCrillis and MaKayla, would not be biologically related; however, while writing and directing episodes of the show, the staff still maintained their brother-and-sister type of relationship in addition to giving them adult-like responsibilities at such a young age to help the narrative address their ideals and philosophies accordingly. Their backstories each were also further altered to make events in the series’ timeline more thematic. Gang was somewhat inspired by several teenage heroine action-orientated series back in the 2000s and 2010s era, more specifically Kim Possible and Danny Phantom, the latter of which Marmel used to work on. Both series each feature a high school teenage heroine protagonist fighting crime while coping with everyday issues commonly associated with adolescence. Gang was more so heavily inspired by a 1973 television movie titled The Marcus-Nelson Murders, and it was the pilot episode for the television series Kojak. It was set in New York City and that episode depicted a young, intellectually underdeveloped black male being abused and framed for crimes by members of the New York City Police Department. Gang also made many references to various 1990s-2000s Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon programming as well. - - Casting Animation Approximately up to 100 people worked together producing and animating each episode of Gang. The crew at Diamond Champion did the written scripts, graphic design and movement, and dialogue; the episodes were then finalized by the crew at Rising Stars, who reviewed them, did the editing, and added music, before being sent to Kart Tunes for approval or scrapped after disapproval from the network. While the series was expensive and time-consuming to produce and animate, the staff planned on finishing it up to "as long as they can", but they had overspent the budget on the series, and had to cancel their intention and shorten it down to 52 episodes. - - Soundtrack Themes The series explored topics rarely touched in many television shows that feature teenagers in middle school and high school respectively. It deals with youth, peer pressure, abuse, sin, repentance, corruption, war, loss, racism, discrimination, stereotyping, homelessness, and LGBT. Gang also explored the philosophical questions surrounding the law and policy; this results in its characters and plot structure being written with many layers of depth and complexity, and thus, their motives frequently being strayed into grey territory; this narrative writing gives the series a wide variety in its atmosphere, a consistent theme, and a relatable connection to the audience. In short, the series touched upon the human nature. Broadcast Episodes International Reception Ratings Critical reception The series’ characters, animation, voice acting, and soundtrack have been positively received by many fans and critics. It has also been noted for its appeal towards all age, race, and gender groups. James Poniewozik of Time ''magazine described the characters as "some of the most relatable of any show. It attracted young children curious about the high school experience, teenagers who know it all too well, and even adults who watch the show with fond (or sometimes not-so-fond) memories of their own adolescence. Those who first encountered the show respond to it really well because they were going through the same things that the characters were going through...dealing with bullies, dealing with gangs, dealing with police, dealing with girls, dealing with boys, and so on and so fourth..." According to Laura Fries of ''Variety magazine, the series is "the most pessimistic thing she had ever seen in her whole life. Unlike many other animated or live-action TV shows today, this one outshines them all. Because it is a character-driven story, it has the right balance of serious and goofy moments. It implemented comedy when needed, but once it was serious, it STAYED that way. It is a show about teens dealing with what real life teens deal with anyway. It also does not constantly throw in action for multiple episodes like a typical Japanese anime series would. Once in a while, the show gives us action or comedy as a break from all the blank yet wonderful character moments. The action and comedy are just bonuses in any show‘s plot, whereas the characters and the settings are the most important because strictly speaking, they are the only ones that we can relate to.” However, some fans and critics have criticized its story for being convoluted. This is particularly because of the constant foreshadowing in the story’s first half, which led to many new character arcs being introduced and resolved at the same time throughout the series’ second and final half. Awards and accolades See also